The Joker has, of course, used many aliases over the years, but most have always involved a "J" somewhere (Jack Napier, Jack White etc.), so it's something of a departure for this incarnation to omit the letter entirely.

Today, Phillips shared the below photo of Phoenix as the proto-Joker, here named Arthur...reports are that the touchstone inspiration is The King of Comedy, one of the great under-discussed Scorsese films.

While Phoenix is not pictured with the Joker's traditional clown makeup or green hair, it is quite interesting to see what the man looks like before his big transition.

DC's upcoming project based around the iconic Batman villain was wise to select an actor of Joaquin Phoenix's quality. And sure, in all likelihood, yes, he's Gotham City's so-called Clown Prince of Crime.

Todd Phillips making a serious, grounded movie about the Joker is odd enough.

Outer rain bands approaching N. Carolina coastPresident Donald Trump touted the government's readiness and urged people to get out of the way of Florence. Florence was a Category 3 hurricane on the five-step Saffir-Simpson scale with 120-mph winds on Thursday.

Better yet, we can see Arthur's penchant for mischief and perhaps his deranged mindset in Phoenix's performance. Rupert Pupkin himself, Robert De Niro, also has a role in this film. It will be made on a budget of 55 million dollars and will be more of a dark character study than the usual comic-book caper.

After the disappointing critical reception to their DC Extended Universe of movies, Warner Bros hopes for the Joker movie to start a new spin-off series of one-shot movies. Check out the photo in the gallery below, and you can also click on the link to Just Jared for a look at some of Phoenix on the Harlem, New York set!

Joker (or whatever it ends up being called) hits cinemas October 4th, 2019.

Recommended

Arsenal were handed a seemingly easier task against Sporting Lisbon, Azerbaijani club Qarabag and Vorskla of Ukraine. Steven Gerrard's men overcame Shkupi, Osijek and Maribor, before seeing off Ufa in the play-offs.

Alvarez, whose only defeat in a 52-fight career was a 2013 loss to Floyd Mayweather, admits the accusations have riled him. Mexico's Alvarez (49-1-2, 34 knockouts) meanwhile came in at 159.4 pounds, well within the 160lb limit.

Freeland told reporters at the Women in the World event in Toronto, without commenting further on the state of the trade talks. He said Canada and the United States spent a lot of time last week reconciling what the US and Mexico had already agreed upon.

Mackie rode in a boat through a flooded neighborhood, navigating through trees and past a fencepost to get to the Knox house. Hurricane Florence is bearing down on North Carolina but not as much as one weather reporter would have you believe.

The Miami-based center says Florence is bringing "catastrophic" fresh water flooding over a wide area of the Carolinas. The hurricane center predicts as much as 101 centimeters (40 inches) of rain for some parts of North Carolina.

Some of Trump's critics denounced his latest tweets and statements on how he handled the response to Maria nearly a year ago. This was a disgusting storm", he said. "Those are just the facts of what happened".

It is more likely that Ireland, Scotland and northern England will see winds of 10 to 20mph, and gusts up to 40mph. AST (0300 UTC), the center of Tropical Storm Joyce was located near latitude 32.9 north, longitude 44.4 west.

The economy grew at a 4.2% rate in the second quarter, the fastest since the third quarter of 2014 - again, under Mr Obama . That's not the case for the S&P 500 Index, which has increased about 35% since Trump was elected on November 8, 2016.

An advance party from the White House was due to visit Ireland in the coming weeks to plan the trip but that has been cancelled. A spokesperson for Taoiseach Leo Varadkar was earlier unable to confirm the story even after it was broken on Independent.ie.

This allows radio waves to pass through both the front and back of the device, making the Series 4 better for staying connected. The Apple Watch also undergone a hardware overhaul, and Series 4 comes with a new built-in ECG (electrocardiogram) scanner now.

Liverpool FC are still aiming to win their first trophy since Jurgen Klopp's appointment at Anfield back in October 2015. "The Champions League - if I was Liverpool , I would kick it into touch", Neville said.

Packers: Three takeaways from Week 2 tie with Vikings
Matthews didn't go high, he didn't go low, he wasn't late, he didn't put his weight on Cousins and he didn't use his helmet. A call against Clay Matthews changed the outcome of Sunday's Packers-Vikings game, and the Green Bay linebacker is heated.

Storm Helene wind warning lifted
Road, rail, air and ferry services may be affected, with longer journey times and cancellations possible. STORM Helene is expected to bring gusts of wind of up to 85mph across Wirral next week.

Hailey Baldwin Shuts Down Rumors: 'I'm Not Married Yet'
During their time at the courthouse, Justin was reportedly crying and telling Hailey: "I can't wait to marry you, baby". Speaking about their wedding, TMZ reports that the celebrity couple will be reportedly getting hitched in Canada.

The startling stats that show the power of Hurricane Florence
According to the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Wind Scale, people caught in a Category 4 storm can expect to see "catastrophic damage". A hurricane watch is in effect for the North and SC coast. "This rainfall may produce life-threatening flash flooding".

SpaceX is sending someone to Moon on its rocket
The BFR is SpaceX's newest rocket, a super powerful launch vehicle with 31 engines and the capacity to lift 150 tons into space. And Jeff Bezos, the founder of Amazon, is also working with his company, Blue Origin, on getting tourists to space.

Amazon's Bezos comments on Trump criticism
Amazon has come under heavy criticism for how workers are treated at its distribution centres and its tax contributions. He said he did not know how much money he would eventually give away.

US Open: Djokovic earns his third title
Novak Djokovic of Serbia celebrates with his wife Jelena Djokovic after winning his men's Singles finals match. Del Potro would not rue how many of those could have been his had he been injury-free all those years.

Ex-Trump campaign boss reaches plea deal
The charges in the information say that Manafort will have to forfeit property that was derived from or traceable to his offenses. It's unclear how the possible deal might affect Manafort's pursuit of a pardon from President Donald Trump.